Regulator's plans would relax some rules controlling cold-calling

The rules relating to unsolicited contact or cold-calling will be relaxed in some areas if new proposals by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) come into effect.

So what are the proposed rules governing if and when financial institutions can hound consumers?

IFSRA has decided that regulated companies can cold call any consumer if the call's purpose is to sell them certain insurance policies, including motor insurance, home insurance and "term life" assurance, but excluding payment protection insurance and life assurance known as "whole of life" policies.

If you have been a customer of the regulated firm within the previous 12 months, they are within their rights to contact you if you own a product that requires the company to maintain contact, or if the call's purpose is similar to the service or product provided.

If you are not a customer of the regulated firm, you may be cold-called if you have signed a statement giving them permission to phone you - or if you have been the subject of a referral from another party. However, data protection legislation requires that in most cases, you will need to give your consent before your data is disclosed to a third party.

The unsolicited contact can only be made between 9am and 9pm from Monday to Saturday, excluding bank and public holidays, unless you request otherwise. You must be told if the call is recorded.

The caller must establish if you want the call to proceed. If you say you don't, the caller must end the contact immediately. If you tell the firm you never want to hear from them again, they must abide by your request.

Financial institutions and firms are not allowed to hold you to a binding agreement on the basis of an unsolicited contact alone.

According to IFSRA, these restrictions are necessary to prevent high-pressure sales tactics, but the regulator is also concerned that a complete ban could limit competition.

"It's about achieving a balance between helping consumers and pushing products on them that they don't need," says IFSRA's consumer director, Ms Mary O'Dea.

However, the Consumers' Association called on financial institutions to adopt a professional approach.

"We need to be more restrictive on cold-calling," says the association's chief executive, Dermott Jewell.

"The time spent answering the door and the telephone could be intrusive," he says.

IFSRA's cold-calling rules relate to personal visits and oral communication only. Another much-maligned form of unsolicited contact is direct mail marketing, the rules for which are laid out in data protection legislation.

One recurring debate is whether consumers should be obliged to "opt out" to avoid their name and address being passed on to third parties.

Are application forms or marketing surveys where consumers must take a positive step such as ticking a box - or unticking a box in the case of an electronic form - if they want to avoid a flood of junk mail really fair?

An "opt-in" system, where ticking the box means you agree to be added to a marketing database, is generally regarded as more consumer-friendly.

Under the rules for direct mail marketing, opt-in consent is advocated as good practice, although opt-out boxes are allowed.

Provided the opt-out box is visible and explicit in its wording, the Data Protection Commissioner will accept that consumers have given their "passive consent" by not ticking the box.

However, there are different rules for electronic communications. If you are not a customer of a company and they wish to send you email or SMS marketing, you must "opt in" if you want to receive the marketing material.

Sending spam email or SMS is an offence and consumers on the receiving end can complain to the Data Protection Commissioner.

Consumers also have a legal right to be removed from a direct marketing database. Once consumers write to the organisation requesting to have their personal details deleted from the database, the organisation must confirm in writing that they have complied with the request within 40 days.